This invention relates to mailers and business form assemblies for producing such mailers.
In one aspect, the invention is particularly applicable to business form assemblies comprising a substantially continuous web containing a plurality of mailer forming units separable from one another by first transverse lines of perforation extending completely across the web, each mailer forming unit comprising a front sheet and a back sheet of similar size, the mailer forming unit carrying non-active, but activatable, adhesive such that a sealed mailer unit can be formed by folding the unit to bring the front and back sheets in register and activating the adhesive to form a seal along the three non-folded edges.
Conventional mailers have the three sealed edges detachable along perforation lines which extend inside the lines of adhesive so that after the marginal edge portions have been removed by tearing along the lines of perforation the mailer can be opened out along the fold line.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the invention provides a sealed mailer and a business form assembly for providing a series of such mailers, in which the mailer has a folded edge and three other edges sealed by adhesive. The mailer includes a line of perforation along a first edge opposite the folded edge and inside the substantially continuous line of adhesive sealing that edge. The adhesive along the other two opposite edges is of a peel-apart arrangement, e.g., a series of spaced small dots of adhesive with no adhesive between the dots. Thus, after the first edge has been detached, the other two edges can be peeled apart to open out the mailer without significantly damaging the mailer.
More particularly, the invention in this aspect thereof provides a business form assembly for forming a plurality of mailers, comprising a continuous web formed with a plurality of mailer forming units separated from one another by first transverse lines of perforation extending across the web. Each unit is formed with a central fold line such that the unit can be folded, after separation from the web, over along the central fold line to provide a sealed mailer having a front sheet and a back sheet in register with one another. At least parts of the edge portions parallel to the fold line carry a first non-active adhesive such that when such edges are brought together, a first substantially continuous line of adhesive is provided for sealing these edge portions together. A detachment line of perforations extends along the edge portions parallel to the fold line and inside the first adhesive line to define a tear-off margin. Portions of the edges normal to the fold line have a non-active second peel-apart adhesive arrangement therealong to seal the edge portions together. By removing the tear-off margin, the edge portions normal to the fold line can be peeled apart to open the mailer without significant damage thereto.
This aspect of the invention extends to mailers formed from such business form assemblies which have been folded and the adhesive activated to seal the units. Preferably, the adhesive is heat activatable or pressure activatable and the same adhesive is used for forming the substantially continuous adhesive line and for forming the peel-apart arrangements. The peel-apart arrangements comprise spaced-apart spots or discrete areas of adhesive separated by areas free of adhesive. The spacing is such that the area free of adhesive along the line of peel-apart adhesive is at least twice the area covered by adhesive, preferably three to six times as great and with advantage about four to five times as great. The central fold line of the mailer may extend transversely or longitudinally of the web, depending upon the desired dimensions.
The adhesive in this embodiment is arranged so that each half of the unit carries substantially half the adhesive. Where the adhesive is a heat seal adhesive, preferably the spots of the peel-apart adhesive of one half are interspaced between the spots of peel-apart adhesive on the other half when the unit is folded. Such an arrangement provides a balanced web and mailer unit. Where the adhesive is a pressure seal adhesive, the lines and spots must be the same on each sheet to register in contact with one another.
In another aspect, the invention utilizes separate message and cover sheets in which the message sheets are capable of being fed through a non-impact printer to have information printed on such message sheets, while the cover sheets bear all the adhesive for sealing the two sheets together after they have been collated so as to form a sealed mailer. In this aspect, the separate message and cover sheets are preferably provided in the form of continuous webs, the message web comprising a plurality of message sheets connected to one another by transverse lines of perforations and the cover web comprising a plurality of cover sheets connected to one another by transverse lines of perforations. The adhesive for securing the sheets together may be heat seal or pressure seal adhesive.
Such business form assemblies are described in European Patent Specification 0143622. However, the mailers of that specification are intended to be opened by tearing off four marginal edge portions along lines of perforations formed in both sheets.
Accordingly, in this second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mailer and a business form assembly for forming such a mailer, in which the mailer is formed from two sheets sealed along all four edges. A line of perforations are provided along a first of the edges extending inside a substantially continuous line of adhesive along that marginal edge portion. At least the two edges adjacent the first edge and extending normal thereto are secured to one another by a peel-apart adhesive arrangement such as previously described in the first embodiment hereof. After the first edge portion has been torn off along the line of perforation, the two sheets from which the mailer is formed can be peeled apart from one another.
More particularly, this aspect of the invention provides a business form assembly for forming a mailer comprising a message sheet suitable for passage through a non-impact printer to receive information thereon. A cover sheet of a corresponding size to the message sheet is provided, each of the sheets having longitudinal and transverse edges. One of the sheets, preferably the cover sheet, carries adhesive along its four marginal edge portions such that when it is collated with a message sheet and the adhesive activated the sheets will adhere to one another along the edge to form a sealed mailer. The adhesive along a first of the edges of the cover sheet is formed in a substantially continuous line, the cover sheet being formed with a line of perforations parallel to the first edge and inwardly of the continuous line of adhesive. The message sheet is also formed with a line of perforations adapted to substantially overlie and lie in register with the line of perforations on the cover sheet when the sheets are collated. The adhesive along at least the two opposite edge portions of the cover sheet extending normal to the first edge is of a peel-apart arrangement as previously described.
Preferably, the business form assembly comprises a plurality of message sheets and a plurality of cover sheets, included respectively in a continuous message web and a continuous cover web, each comprising a plurality of such sheets separated from the adjacent sheets by transverse lines of perforations. In one form of this second embodiment, each message sheet and each cover sheet extends the full width of such webs. In another form, there are provided two cover sheets and two message sheets arranged side by side on the web, each separated from one another by a slit line extending longitudinally of the webs. A line of adhesive extends longitudinally adjacent and on each side of the central slid line of the cover sheet.
In a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a sealed mailer comprising a first sheet and a second sheet overlying the first sheet, at least one of the sheets being suitable for passage through a printer for receiving information thereon, the sheets having longitudinal and transverse edges in respective registration one with the other. Means are provided for joining the registering longitudinal and transverse edges of the first and second sheets one to the other, thereby defining longitudinal and transverse edges of the mailer. The mailer has a line of perforations along the first and second sheets defining a margin adjacent one of the edges of the mailer and extending inside the joining means along the one mailer edge, the joining means along the one mailer edge including a substantially continuous line of adhesive along the margin. The first and second sheets along at least two of the joined edges thereof adjacent the one mailer edge and extending normal thereto are secured together by a peel-apart adhesive arrangement whereby, after the margin of the mailer has been torn off along the line of perforations, the first and second sheets can be peeled apart from one another without significantly damaging the mailer.
In a further preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a business form assembly for forming a plurality of mailers comprising a continuous web including a plurality of mailer forming units separable from one another by first transverse lines of perforations extending across the web, each unit, after separation from the web, having a central fold line such that the unit can be folded over along the central fold line to form a mailer having a front sheet and a back sheet in register with one another, edges of the front and back sheets in register with one another defining edge portions of the mailer perpendicular and parallel to the fold line. At least parts of an edge portion of the mailer parallel to the fold line carry a first non-active adhesive, such that, when the edges of the parallel edge portions are brought together, a first substantially continuous line of adhesive is provided for sealing the edge portions together. A detachment line of perforations extends along the edge portions parallel to the fold line and inside the first adhesive line, parts of the edges of the front and back sheets forming edge portions of the mailer normal to the fold line having non-active, non-continuous second lines of adhesive therealong, such that when the unit is folded to bring the edge together second peel-apart lines of non-continuous adhesive are provided for sealing these edges together along their lengths in a manner enabling the edges thereof to be peeled apart.
In a further preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a business form assembly for forming a mailer comprising a message sheet suitable for passage through a non-impact printer to receive information thereon, a cover sheet of a corresponding size to the message sheet, each of the sheets having longitudinal and transverse edges, one of the cover sheets and the message carrying adhesive along each of marginal edge portions adjacent the edges such that when the sheets are collated and the adhesive activated, the sheets will adhere to one another along their marginal edge portions to form a sealed mailer. The adhesive along a first of the edge portions of the one sheet is formed in a substantially continuous line, the one sheet being formed in a substantially continuous line of perforations parallel to the first edge portion and inwardly of the continuous line of adhesive, the other sheet being formed with a line of perforations adapted to substantially register with the line of perforations of the one sheet when the sheets are collated and the adhesive along at least the two opposite edge portions of the one sheet extending normal to the first edge portion being of a peel-apart type.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide novel and improved mailers and business form assemblies for forming the mailers.
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, appended claims and drawings.